BRUSSELS – Early on Saturday, the European Union suddenly reversed an attempt to curb vaccine exports to Britain via Northern Ireland, the latest obstacle in the continent’s faltering vaccination.
The bloc came under heavy criticism from Britain, Ireland and the World Health Organization on Friday when it announced plans to use emergency measures under the Brexit agreement to block Covid-19 vaccines across the Irish border into Britain.
The turnaround took place when the European Commission and its president, Ursula von der Leyen, were already under fire due to the relatively slow vaccination in the 27 member states, especially compared to Britain and the United States.
The Commission announced the restrictions without consulting member states or Britain, a former member – unusually aggressive behavior that is not typical of the bloc, said Mujtaba Rahman, Europe’s head of the Eurasia group. risk consultant.
“There is clear panic at the highest levels of the Commission, and the issue of the Northern Ireland Agreement has been raised in this larger issue of poor EU vaccine performance,” he said.
The drama unfolded just as the plan was to vaccinate 70 percent of its adult population by summer. The European Union is already slow in ordering and delivering the vaccines, and was hit with a devastating blow when AstraZeneca announced it would reduce vaccine deliveries due to production problems.
The initial EU plan to restrict vaccine exports to non-EU countries has sparked outrage from both the Republic of Ireland, a member of the European Union, and Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom. Both sides are committed to recreating no land border between the two parts of the island of Ireland.
Implementing the emergency measures in the Brexit agreement shortly after Britain left the bloc at the end of 2020 apparently cast doubt on the European Union’s sincerity in complying with the agreement on Ireland – which one of the biggest bottlenecks was the agreement. The Prime Minister of Ireland, Micheal Martin, immediately discussed the matter with Mrs. Raised by Leyen.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken to both leaders. And Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland’s Prime Minister, calls the move by the bloc an incredible act of hostility. ‘
Britons who have advocated Brexit point to the faster vaccination of their country as an advantage to leaving the bloc and its slower, collective processes.
Tom Tugendhat, a Conservative member of the British Parliament who initially opposed Brexit but reluctantly voted in favor of the agreement, said on Twitter that the signals of the vaccine dispute are cause for concern.
“Whatever you see about Brexit, it is now quite clear how we are seen by the EU – we are outside,” he said, and “goodwill is frugal.” He called for a policy that ‘rebuilds relationships’.
Mrs. Von der Leyen and the Commission quickly withdrew, insisting that a mistake had been made and that any export control of vaccines would ensure the Brexit agreement, which gave the assurance that there would be no new border controls between Ireland and Northern Ireland. not. , would be ‘untouched’. This Protocol deals mainly with Northern Ireland as part of the European regulatory area.
But it was clear that the move to introduce export controls was aimed at preventing any vaccine doses produced within the European Union from being sent to Britain across the open border on the island of Ireland.
The British regarded it as an aggressive act. Mr. Mrs. Von der Leyen called and then said that he ‘expressed his serious concern about the potential impact’.
The World Health Organization has taken part in the criticism of EU export controls, saying such measures could prolong the pandemic. Its director-general, dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on Friday that a vaccine nationalism could lead to ‘long-term recovery’. Mariangela Simao, the assistant director-general for access to medicine, called the move part of a ‘very worrying trend’.
After meeting with Mr. Martin and mr. Johnson spoke and received advice from the European Union ambassador in London, Ms. Von der Leyen tweeted after midnight, saying that ‘we agree on the principle that there should be no restrictions on the export of vaccines. by companies where they fulfill contractual responsibilities. ”
The bloc still intends to introduce export controls that could prevent any vaccines made in the European Union from being sent to non-EU countries, but without involving Northern Ireland, which in any case has its vaccines from Britain gets.
Earlier this week, the Commission and Mrs. Von der Leyen accuses the British-Swedish company of not fulfilling their contract. They suggested that AstraZeneca, which works with a vaccine developed at the University of Oxford, give Britain preferential treatment and even send a vaccine manufactured in the European Union instead.
AstraZeneca disputed the charge and its CEO, Pascal Soriot, insisted that the contract with the European Union requires only ‘best reasonable efforts’ to meet delivery schedules.
Britain signed its own contract with the company three months before the European Union did so, Mr. Soriot said, and according to the contract, vaccines produced in Britain must first go there.
Lawyers do not agree on the language of the EU contract, which was only partially disclosed.
Mrs. Von der Leyen, who had previously left most of the vaccine dispute to her commissioners, said on Thursday that the bloc would introduce a temporary export control mechanism to block vaccine exports in the European Union – a measure that AstraZeneca is targeted. , which also manufactures in Belgium.
The approval to even use the AstraZeneca vaccine in the European Union only took place on Friday. The company can therefore hardly be blamed for the existing shortages of vaccinations due to earlier decisions of the Commission to order bulk for the whole block, which lowered the price of vaccinations but delayed the orders and deliveries.
It also did not help the unit when first the German government and then President Emmanuel Macron of France expressed doubts about whether the AstraZeneca vaccine was effective for people over 65 – contrary to what the European Medicines Agency said. when it approved the vaccine for all adults.
For the German magazine Der Spiegel, no fan of Mrs. Von der Leyen does not say that the wrong handling of vaccine roll-out is her responsibility. “Europe is facing a vaccination disaster,” writes the magazine, which “could eventually be the biggest disaster in its entire political career.”